Expect to pay more for pączki this year, as pastry chefs grapple with the skyrocketing costs of sugar, eggs and other baking staples.
While some bakeries are eating the cost of higher ingredients, others have had to increase prices by as much as 30% for the jelly or custard-filled doughnuts eaten to mark the start of Lent, which falls on Wednesday, with Pączki Day taking place Tuesday.
Evanston bread maker Hewn had to raise pączki prices by about 10%, said owners Julie Matthei and Ellen King. A four-pack of chocolate and raspberry pączki can now be had for $20. And prices for confections that use eggs, sugar and chocolate increased between 6% and 9%.
“We had to make the kind of undesirable decision to increase prices after the holidays because we had seen our margins continuing to shrink and all of our expenses continue to go up,” King said. “It’s not to make more money. It’s to be able to continue to be viable.”
King and Matthei said they’re thankful that longtime customers have been understanding of the change, but they’re unsure how much more their business can take.
“The prices aren’t going down. They’re only going up, and with these proposed tariffs coming, who knows?” Matthei said. “More ingredients are going to become more difficult to source.”
In January, large eggs reached a record average of $4.95 per dozen, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s the highest average price since 1980, the earliest year the bureau started reporting egg prices. The previous record of $4.82 was in January 2023.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report Tuesday predicting egg prices will increase by 41.1% this year. The agency had previously predicted a 20% increase. The USDA cited an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, as the cause of the supply strain leading to higher costs.
Sugar prices have also spiked. The latest data from the bureau of labor statistics reported the average cost of white sugar in January was $1.01 per pound, up from 98 cents per pound year over year.
A global cocoa shortage — stemming from factors such as climate change, crop disease and poor weather in growing regions — has caused the cost of chocolate to rise. The price of cocoa now hovers around $10,000 a ton, after peaking at more than $12,000 during the 2024 holiday season. In summer 2022, cocoa sold for less than $2,000 a ton.
Chocolate has been “incredibly expensive,” said Weber’s Bakery co-owner Michael Weber. Its top selling pączki is the vanilla custard with chocolate icing, as well as the strawberry jelly.
“We would buy a 50-pound bag of cocoa, and it’s normally about $120 a bag,” he said. “It’s $250 [now] and so all these other costs have been going up.”
The Garfield Ridge bakery said its pączki is $1.75, compared to about $1.65 last year. While they’re priced much lower than other shops, Weber said it’s becoming harder to keep prices steady.
“We’re hoping to weather this … because the last thing I want to do is raise prices again. That’s not who we are,” he said.
How high are pączki prices?
Alliance Bakery, with locations in West Town and Wicker Park, hasn’t increased prices, but if the price of ingredients doesn’t stabilize, it may have to, said owner and executive pastry chef Peter Rios.
It’s selling six flavors of pączki at $4.25 or $4.75 each, depending on the variety.
“It’s hitting us pretty hard,” Rios said. “Our chocolate costs have gone up 30%. Our egg costs have gone up 150%.”
In addition to leaner staffing and reevaluating supplier contracts, Rios said he’s considering a 5% to 10% price increase on all products.
“We’re going through a rough patch right now with the economy,” Rios said. “I’m hoping things can settle down in the short term. But if not, then I think everyone is going to understand [the price increases] because they themselves can see that in their pocketbook.”
Bakeries said customers have been largely understanding, though some still get angry.
“People are getting pissed — mad,” Laramie Bakery owner Joe Wojcik said. But the Belmont Cragin bakery has seen its egg costs skyrocket to as much as $220. “The prices are out of this world,” he said. “I just don’t believe it.”
Higher egg and sugar costs have meant 5% to 10% price increases on all items at Delightful Pastries in Portage Park. While owner Dobra Bielinski is worried about the financial health of her business, she’s more concerned about the seemingly fragile U.S. food ecosystem.
“Ever since COVID hit, it seems like we can’t seem to stabilize our food costs,” said Bielinski, who has operated her bakery for 27 years. “I think there’s a problem in our food chain. We really need to look at it and see how we can protect it from these insane surges.”
If costs don’t decline soon, Bielinski said she’s considering cutting operating hours or staying closed for an extra day.
“Sales are going down, the costs are going up, and eventually you’re going to be squeezed out of business,” Bielinski said. “We’re going to have to think outside the box to come up with new and interesting products and ideas so we keep being relevant and stay in business. But to be quite honest, it’s going to be really hard.”
Delightful Pastries offers pączki year-round, with 13 varieties, each selling at $3.69 to $6.19.
Heritage Restaurant and Caviar Bar in Humboldt Park has been able to avoid big hits to its bottom line, mostly because the eatery offers a wide variety of food, said executive chef Guy Meikle. The restaurant did have to increase pączki prices by $1, but Meikle said he’s not gotten much pushback from customers.
“For years, we’ve been rather gun-shy about raising our prices. We’ve tried to keep them pretty low because we want people to come and enjoy everything at the restaurant,” Meikle said. “This year we’ve felt a little bit more at ease to go ahead and raise those prices. I feel like people are expecting it. What we don’t want to do is hurt the restaurant, or hurt our staff by trying to keep them too low.”
Bakeries, restaurants hope ingredient prices will drop
The eastern European eatery will offer a pączki pop-up Tuesday, with flavors like milk tea, tiramisu and black sesame coconut. A dozen pączki will cost $66.
Roeser’s Bakery, family-owned since 1911 in Humbolt Park, has been absorbing increased supply costs.
“But it’s getting a little tight,” owner John Roeser IV said. “I think I might have to pass a little something on to the consumer pretty soon if things don’t turn around.”
It goes through roughly 600 pounds of eggs a week, he said, and costs have doubled. He’s hoping the prices are temporary.
West Town Bakery said soaring egg prices have led to a 30% increase in pączki prices, according to executive pastry chef Chris Teixeira.
It’s selling a dozen pączki for $50 for preorder or singles in-store on Tuesday for $4.50.
Teixeira said overall, the bakery’s ingredients have cost them about 5% more in the last few months.
“The old adage is that you make your money in restaurants on nickels and dimes,” he said. “That has completely whittled down to pennies.”
